‘Partners In Preservation’ Attracts 22 History Groups

“Partners in Preservation,” the second annual history fair organized by OCHA, the Otsego County Historical Association, attracted 22 historical societies that set up booths in the Springfield Community Center. New this year were Otego, Gilbertsville and Roseboom. In top photo, Caren Kelsey, president of the Hartwick society, holds up a memento of the old depot in Hartwick hamlet that is being sold this year as a fundraiser; upcoming projects include raising money to bring the gazebo in the hamlet back to its original condition. At right, Ellen LaSalle, Cherry Valley, considers a copy of Al Bullard’s “The Hop Farmer’s Year,” published last fall. OCHA President Deb Mackenzie, Hartwick, said the society’s first countywide fair was last year in Cooperstown and addresses OCHA’s central mission: To get local historians communicating with each other. Currently, the historians are working together (with the county Department of Planning, Solid Waste & Economic Development) to update and computerize a cemetery map first assembled by Butternut Town Historian Leigh Eckmair. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)